Effect of the Inclination of Baffles on the Power Consumption and Fluid Flows in a Vessel Stirred by a Rushton Turbine

The role of baffles in mechanically stirred tanks is to promote the stability of power drawn by the impeller and to avoid the fluid swirling, thus enhancing mixing. The present paper numerically investigates the baffles effects in a vessel stirred by a Rushton turbine. The geometric factor of interest is the baffle inclination which is varying between 25A degrees, 32.5A degrees, 45A degrees, 70A degrees and 90A degrees at different impeller rotational speeds. The impeller rotational direction has also been varied. The vortex size and power consumption were evaluated for each geometrical configuration. It was found that the best configuration is the baffle inclination by alpha = 70A degrees at a negative angular velocity.